Crown of Forks @ Artscape/Exotic Hypnotic, Langsdale Auditorium, July 20, 2007, Baltimore, MDIt took a long time for Crown of Forks to set up their equipment. And once I recognized the inherent danger of setting up a weed whacker in close proximity to an inflatable kiddie pool filled with ketchup I hastily made my way out of harm's way. This proved to be a wise move as the clean-up time would prove to be twice as long as the set-up. And the "performance" itself was completed in mere moments.
The stench of that most foul of condiments wasn't the only thing that stunk in this performance. As a listener, and as an audience member, I can tolerate a lot and have more patience than most. But this one goes into the hall of fame for worst concert experience ever. If a piece fails because of poor execution or lack of merit in the initial idea I'm okay with that. But this was not an idea or even a conceptually defensible work of art. This was a stunt hatched by juvenile idiots and a bad idea badly executed. It's crap like this that gives "experimental music" a bad reputation - and understandably so.
